THE 2016 DIGICEL’s Schools Football Championship was officially launched yesterday at the Covent Garden Secondary School on the East Bank of Demerara.The tournament, which is now entering its sixth year, will feature a total of 180 schools. This number marks an increase of 9% from last year’s 160.
Present at the launch were Digicel CEO Kevin Kelly, Customer Care Head of Department Sherwin Osborne, Head of Department of Sales Nalini Veira, Marketing Director Jacqueline James, Director of Sport Christopher Jones and Guyana Football Federation president Wayne Forde.
According to James, the tournament will take place across Guyana and there will be 12 regions introduced this year, since Region 4 Demerara-Mahaica will be split in three: East Bank and East Coast being combined, South Georgetown and North Georgetown.
The tournament is a knock-out tournament and consists of regional competitions, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.
The prizes set out for the tournament will see the regional winners, fourth-placers, third-placers, second-placers and first-placers take home $100 000, $350 000, $400 000, $700000 and $1M respectively.
James also spoke about the way that Digicel’s Schools Football was started and opened opportunities for the players to travel across Guyana and improve their skills.
CEO Kevin Kelly explained how hard it is to maintain a tournament of such magnitude. “It is a huge undertaking to move so many persons around the country and there are a lot of logistics involved but thanks to our logistics team who are more than capable,” said Kelly. He closed by saying the tournament was Digicel’s way of giving back to the Guyanese population.
Jones, speaking at the launch, added that the Ministry of Education, Department Culture Youth and Sport was proud to be a part of the tournament and such a tournament stimulates several opportunities whether economic or tourism-based across Guyana.
He promised full support of the Government of Guyana, before imploring corporate Guyana to follow Digicel’s lead in getting involved in youth development.
Closing off the launch was GFF president Wayne Forde, who thanked Digicel for remaining a stakeholder throughout the struggles of football in Guyana. He said that Digicel’s schools tournament extending to all parts of Guyana will change the ‘diversity’ of the Golden Jaguars team in the years to come.
Digicel also unveiled the tournament’s new uniform kits which featured seven new colour combinations.
The tournament kicks off on June 13 nationwide and the final will be played on July 31 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.